Pierrot Troupes

Pierrot Troupes, form of entertainment which, like the Christmas pantomime, appears to be purely English. It took the solitary, lovelorn Pierrot of Deburau's successors, and multiplied him by the score, turning him into a jolly, gregarious entertainer, a versatile member of an organized concert party. Dressed in a modified Pierrot costume—short white frilly frock for the girls, or Pierrettes, loose white (or black) suits for the men, with tall dunces' caps, the whole enlivened by brightly coloured (or black on white) buttons, ruffs, ruffles, and pompons—the various members of the troupe sang, danced, juggled, told funny stories, and engaged in humorous backchat. After an initial appearance at Henley Regatta, the Pierrots spread all over England, even ousting the blackfaced minstrel shows from the beaches and pier-pavilions of the seaside towns, and eventually reaching London with Pélissier's Follies, the apotheosis of the genre, in the 1900s. The Pierrot troupes were later replaced by the more sophisticated revue, but lingered on in summer resorts, and a successful revival of the old Pierrot show, staged by the Co-Optimists under Davy Burnaby (1881–1949), had an unexpected success during several London seasons in the 1920s.